Sooo, I'm thinking about buying a new computer, probably a laptop for the versatility I would have. My son has pretty much commandeered my two year-old Toshiba. I would be using my new computer mostly for just internet surfing, music downloads, digital pictures, and some other personal things. Any suggestions on what I should buy and how large it should be? What features should I demand it possess?

Unless you intend to be playing relatively newer games or want to be doing heavy processing such as SQL i would suggest buying bottom end id say spend max $1200 and i would say the only thing you should care about is hard drive space some people seem to never delete pictures off their computer. But as always in the end the choice is yours.

"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do." - Joseph Stalin

I think it’s a personal preference. I’ve always preferred a notebook or a laptop to desktop because of the mobile convenience and storage space.

But, if you are expecting to put the computer into one spot and never need to move it, you'll get more value from a desktop – either by paying less, or by spending the extra money on faster/bigger/better components so that the computer lasts longer.

You calling me stupid do not make me stupid; it makes you a person calling me stupid.

Tips:
Keeping it cheap (less then the above suggested $1200)
AMD Chip can be less then Intel (Ex: P4)
You may have no need to get anything but integrated sound and video cards
Get no less then 512 MB memory (more is better, I say)
Get no less then a 160 GB hard drive
You might get away with just a burner (be it CD or DVD) rather then dual. Dual deck allows for disk to disk burning, but if you have a large HD why worry?
(I have a Dual Layer DVD burner to get mega amounts of pictures stored, as I tend to fill a DVD easily)
You might like the 15-in-1 reader (optional) choice, and it isn't generally that expensive to add. 15 , that number varies with each mnf.)

I recommend that you go to any of the commercial PC site and do a custom config on a PC (EX: HP). Plug in what you do want, exclude what you don't need. I have purchased many a PC UNDER $800 this way. (most ranging $500+-)